Corpse flower, also called corpse lily and rafflesia, got its name because of the smell emitted, more precisely, the stench. The genus itself includes 12 species of "relatives", among which the Arnoldi lily (Arnoldii) is the most famous.
A corpse flower is not able to synthesize the organic substances it needs, therefore, like a vampire, it draws juices from others. Rafflesia chose a vine of the genus Tetrastigma (grape) as a donor. The seeds of a corpse lily, having fallen on a liana, germinate and, letting out sucker-seedlings, literally dig into the host plant.
A corpse flower grows slowly: the bark of the vines, under which the seed develops, swells only after a year and a half, as a result, a bud is formed that ripens for another nine months (future bud). Then, sitting right on the bare ground, a huge flower of red-brick color blooms. Rafflesia, reminiscent of decaying meat in color and smell, attracts many flies (they also pollinate it). The ovary develops for another seven months. The fruit contains up to 4,000,000 seeds.
The corpse flower reproduces with the help of large animals (usually elephants), which, crushing the fruit while walking, carry the seeds. However, only a few will germinate and continue such a long cycle.
The world learned about rafflesia thanks to officer Stamford Raffles and botanist Joseph Arnold, who discovered it on about. Sumatra. When the corpse flower blossomed, it was measured and the first description was made, giving a rather beautiful name, which it bears to this day. By the way, the locals (Indonesians) called it "bunga patma", which means "lotus flower" in their language. Agree, also a beautiful name.
Kinship ties, like origin in general, remained a mystery for a long time. Leading a parasitic way of life, the cadaverous flower has lost its stem, leaves and roots. The ability to photosynthesis was also lost. The plant has become clumps and branching strands of cells that permeate the body of the host plant.
At the disposal of botanists, there are practically no morphological signs left that indicate any group of dicotyledonous plants, to which, in theory, the amazing rafflesia belonged. The flower itself was the only organ that survived, but it was also so hypertrophied, so specialized (meaning a specific and unique method of pollination) and modified that it was impossible to determine the place of the corpse lily in the plant world. Only molecular phylogenetics (the nucleotide sequence of DNA) could help here. But alsohere a number of difficulties arose. It turned out that there is an exchange of genes (horizontal) between the cadaveric flower and its host plant, so the analysis of the genes gave very contradictory results. We decided to dwell on the fact that rafflesia belongs to Malpighiales - a huge group of dicots, including many families. However, the taxonomic position of this strange plant haunted American botanists and molecular biologists. They decided to undertake a large-scale study. Long and difficult work led to the conclusion: Rafflesia belong to the Euphorbiaceae family. However, the structure itself denied this relationship. Yes, and the flowers of euphorbia are small. The authors of the study agreed: the diameter of the flower has grown several dozen times! Just imagine - the weight of a corpse lily can reach 75 kg with a height of more than three meters! The uniqueness of the plant has attracted the attention of botanical gardens around the world. Of course, creating conditions for the growth and reproduction of Amorphophallus (another name) is quite difficult, but some botanists are still making progress. For example, such a corpse flower bloomed in Belgium in the city of Meise. According to the staff of the botanical garden, its length is a little less than two and a half meters, and its approximate weight is 50 kg.
